Garage-door opener



March 10, 1931. c SMELSER 1,795,452

GARAGE DOOR OZENER Filed Oct. 29 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l l M Y iffiC/zase g /ier;

hm y'kagm Patented Mar. 10, 1931 PATENT OFFICE CHASE D. SMELSER, OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA GARAGE-DOOR cram Application filed October 29, 1929- !erial No. 408,285.

This invention relates to the art of opening andclosing doors from remote control and has for its primary objects the provision of means that will permit a variation of speed of the door from the closed to the open positions or the reverse so as to give a slow starting and stopping speed of the door; means that may be produced and installed at a rel atively low cost; means that have relatively few moving parts providing a simple and durable construction; and. means that may be controlled automatically by the movement of a car from a number 0 points.

These and other objects will become apparent in the following description of the invention as illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1, is an inside elevation of a pair of doors to which my invention is applied;

Fig. 2, a vertical section on the line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, a vertical section through a control box on the line 33 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4, a side elevation of the actuating mechanism; and

Fig. 5, a wiring diagram.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views in the drawings.

I have here shown my invention as applied to one particular type of opening having the doors 10 and 11 hung from a track 12 to be movable thereon so as to be drawn toward one another to close the opening.

On each door I provide an upwardly extending arm 13 and immediately above the track 12 I mount a cable drum 14, one for each door and operatively connected one to the other by means of the spur gears 15 and 16 whereby rotation of one drum 14 will cause the other drum 14 to revolve in the opposite direction.

Each drum 14 is substantially ovoid in shape with a spiral groove continuing therearound from one end to the other, in which a cable 17 may be received. The developed length of the spiral groovearound the drum is equivalent to or slightly greater than the distance of travel of the door across the opening. Referring to Fig. 4, I secureone end of the cable 17 to the flan e 18 of the drum 14 and carry it substantial y horizontally along above the track 12 to and around a pulley 19 and back toward the underside of the drum and wrap it therearound alon the grooves to the opposite end of the rum where the other end is secured in the flange 20, both flanges 18 and 20 being secured to the drum 14. The cable 17 in returning to the drum 14 passes through the bracket 13 which is tightly engu ed thereabout so that upon suitable travel 0? the cable 17 as determined by the revolving of the drum 14 the doors 10 and 11 may be opened and closed by being moved along the track 12.

Referring to Fig. 4, the cable 17 is here shown in relation to the drum 14 as it appears when the doors 10 and 11 are closed. Revolving the drums 14 to cause the underside of the cables 17 to travel outwardly away from the drums causes the cable to unwrap from the undersides of the drums and to wrap over the upper sides.

It is to be noted that by reason of the shape of the drums wherein each drum tapers from the center to the end with reducing diame ters, that with a constant speed of rotation of the drums, the door will start to open at a certain speed, then increase in speed, and finally decrease until the reach the open positions, or in other wor s the pull upon the doors is greater at the beginning and end of the travel than the intermediate positions.

As a means of revolving the drums 14, I mount an electric motor 21 thereabove and 35 provide a suitable train of reduction gears 22 and 23 between the motor and the gear 15. At suitable distances from the inside and outside of the doors I locate run-overs 24 and 25, Fig. 2, each of which consists essentially of a U-shaped bar standing upwardly so as to be struck and knocked over by the wheels of an approaching or retreating car. Referring to Fig. 3, one end of the bar 25 extends from its pivotal support into the control box 26 and is bent upwardly therein and thence horizontally to be engaged by the springs 27 and 28 which are adjusted to yieldin ly retain the bar 25 in the vertical position. l3elow the springs 27 and 28 is a lever 29 .rockably supported about a central pivot 30 and a link 31 extends vertically upwardly from one end of the arm 29 to pivotally engage the bar 32 which is adapted to be rocked from one contact post 33 to a second post 34.

Referring to Fig. 3, rocking of the bar 25 clockwise causes the horizontal member thereover to strike the lever 29 and rock it downwardly to bring the bar 32 against the post 33, and the bar 25 upon being released will immediately return to the vertical position by reason of the pull of the spring 27. In the same manner, when the bar 25 is rocked counter clockwise, the other end of the lever 29 is pushed downwardly whereupon the bar 32 is pushed upwardly against the post 34, and the bar 25 again returns to the vertical position by reason of the pull of the spring 28 motor 21, the switch 36, the two boxes 26 and 35, and the line. A diagram of this wiring is, shown in Fig. 5.

From this diagram it will be observed that when the bar 24 is pushed downwardly by a car approachingthe doors from the outside and the bar 32 within the box 35 is pushed to the dash line position that a circuit will be closed from the line through the wire 40, the bar 32', the wire 41, the bar 32, the wire 42, the knife 43, the connecting link 44, the knife 45, the wire 46, the motor 21, the wire 52, the knife 47 and the wire 48 back to the line, which circuit will remain as such until the doors reach their open position at which point the arm 37 is rocked to remove the blades 43, 45, and 47, out of that circuit to opposite ints of contact as in a double throw switch, thereby at one and the same time stoppim the motor 21 and reversing the connections thereto so that when the bar 32 is rocked upwardly to the dash line position upon the car traveling across the run-over bar 25, the followin circuit is effected to start the rotation of the motor 21 ina reverse direction so as to close the doors 10 and 11 behind the car. This circuit now comprises the wire 40, the bar 32 in the dash line position, the wire 41, the bar 32 in the dash line position, the wire 49, the wire 50, thence across the knife blade 43, the link 44, the cross-over 51, the wire 52, the motor 21, the wire 46, the cross-over 53, the knife blade 47 and the wire 48 back to the line.

sition the arm 37 carries theknife blades said drum bein back over to the positions as indicated in the first described circuit, and the motor stops with the circuit in a reverse open condition.

While I have herein described one particular form as applied to a double sliding door, it is obvious that many structural varlations may be made from that form, such as the embodiment of asingle drum for a single sliding or liftingfioor, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I do not desire, therefore, to be limited to that precise form, nor any more than may be required by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a door opener, an ovoid cable drum, a spiral groove about the drum, a cable fixed by one end to the drum, a Ipulley, said cable being extended from the xed end on the drum around said pulley to the door and back 'to and around said drum to have its other engaging the door with the cable, and means.

actuating said drum, the spiral groove around equal in length to the desired travel of t e door. g

3. In a door opener, an ovoid cable drum, a pulley spaced fromv the drum, a cable extending from the drum around said pulley, said door engaging said cable between sald pulley and said drum, 9. motor operatively connected with said drum, a reversing switch in circuit with the motor having an arm extending therefrom adapted to be moved upon a predetermined travel of the door, and remote control switches in circuit with said reversing switch.

4. In a door opener, an ovoid cable drum, a pulley spaced from the drum, a cable extending from the drum around said pulley said door engaging said cable between said pulley and said drum, a motor operativel connected with said drum, a reversing switc in circuit with the motor having an arm extending therefrom adapted to be moved upon a predetermined travel of the door, and remote control switches in circuit with said reversing switch, and a circuit opening switch operated upon travel of said arm.

5. In a door opener, a cable drum, a pulley spaced from the drum, a cable extending from the drum around said pulley, said door engaging said cable between said pulley and said drum, a motor operatively connected with said drum, a reversing switch in circuit with the motor having an arm extending therefrom adapted to be moved upon a predetermined travel of the door, and remote control switches in circuit with said reversing switch, said drum being reduced in diam eter at each end from the central diameter 5 and having a spiral groove therearound from one end to the other equal in length to the desired travel of said door.

6. In a door opener,-a cable, an ovoid cable drum, a pulley removed from the drum, said cable being fixed by its respective ends to opposite ends of the drum and having an intermediate length extending from one side or the drum to and around said pulley and back around the opposite side of the drum, said door being secured to said cable at a point between the drum and the pulley, a motor for operating the drum, a reversing and stop switch in circuit with the motor remote control switches in circuit/with said first switch, and means for actuating said first switch upon a predetermined travel of the door.

7 -In testimony whereof I afiix m signature.

CHASE D. S ELSER. 

